A Sound Bath – What’s that then?

Last month, Laura McHarrie our next speaker, had the pleasure of a relaxing Sound Bath for a second time in her life. This time, she’d just come back after her summer holiday. You’d think she’d be really relaxed, and ready to receive the benefits, wouldn’t you? She thought so too. In her speech entitled A Sound Bath – what’s that then? Please welcome Laura McHarrie

Here I am lying on my back, with 15 or so Media Lounge colleagues each wrapped in a soft, cozy, cuddly blanket. It’s a tad too quiet and I’m thinking …. about all sorts of weird and wonderful things …. awaiting with high anticipation the soothing vibes of a Sound Bath.

Fellow Toastmasters A Sound Bath? What’s that then?

In a Sound Bath, the sound vibrations open up the seven Chakras and allow relaxation to flow through our body. A Chakra for those of you who haven’t heard the term, is a centre of spiritual power within the human body. The cells in our bodies are full of water. In fact, around 70% of the human body is made up of water and water is an excellent conductor of sound.

Bhanu, our Gong Master this evening, uses singing bowls, tuning forks, his voice, as well as gongs to produce vibrational sound. It, the sound, creates a deep sense of peace and well-being and helps reduce stress levels. To get you in the mood, we are listening to a short 5 minute audio as a back drop to this talk. You may wish to close your eyes to listen more carefully, however, if you do this, you will miss all my gestures and body language!!

Bhanu tells us to let go of all thoughts, breathe and sense the vibrations.

If you think this is starting to sound a bit whoo, whoo … hang on in there! There is contrast coming up.

Let go of all thoughts? I don’t know how to do that. My mind is always too busy, my inner voice yabbers away non stop. It isn’t a nasty Mind Chi that disses me or puts me down. It is more an insistent curiosity that doesn’t rest until all questions are answered and all problems resolved. And … there are many questions in my life because I am so curious.

So here I am immersed in a sound bath, paying more attention to my inner voice than the resonance of sonorous gongs and singing bowls. I’m thinking …

“Julian Treasure, claims in his excellent book How to be Heard” that we have an auditory bandwidth for only 1.6 human conversations. So that’s why I can’t understand what either of my parents are saying when they talk over each other! And they do that a lot! It’s nigh on impossible to concentrate on two people at any one time. How do I stop them doing that?”

“Have you every tried to listen to what someone is saying when your own inner voice is chatting away to you … even if it is relevant?” I bet you are wondering; what on earth is she going on about – yourself right now???

“Did you know that sound travels almost 5 times faster in water? We’re made up of 70% water – mmm! How does that work then?”

“Of course, there is no medium for sound to travel in space – that’s why no one can hear you scream!”

It bothers me terribly . When that inner voice is chit chatting away especially if I have no way of accessing Google to get to the answers. I worry that my mind needs training to be quiet.

And yet, at some point, the vibration does take over. I am concentrating on my breathing, in and out, in and out from each of my Chakras

I don’t fall asleep, of course I don’t.I do smile wryly at the gentle snores I pick up from those lying, like me, on their backs.I smile wryly as I realise I still have much to learn about mindfulness, relaxation and living well.

Then, I start to think about snoring and what an irritating sound that is!

Deep breaths, fellow Toastmasters, deep breaths! Breathing, me thinks, is a good place to start.